Called, Qualified, and Chosen

Moses threw it on the ground and it became a snake, and he ran from it. Then the Lord said to him, “Reach out your hand and take it by the tail.” So Moses reached out and took hold of the snake and it turned back into a staff in his hand. “This,” said the Lord, “is so that they may believe that the Lord, the God of their fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob – has appeared to you.”

Then the Lord said, “Put your hand inside your cloak.” So Moses put his hand into his cloak, and when he took it out, the skin was leprous – it had become as white as snow.

“Now put it back into your cloak,” he said. So Moses put his hand back into his cloak, and when he took it out, it was restored, like the rest of his flesh.

Then the Lord said, “If they do not believe you or pay attention to the first sign, they may believe the second. But if they do not believe these two signs or listen to you, take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground. The water you take from the river will become blood on the ground.”

Moses said to the Lord, “Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.”

The Lord said to him, “Who gave human beings their mouths?Exodus 4:1-10

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Often whenever we hear stories of famous evangelists who boldly proclaimed the Gospel in a place where it had never been before, and the awesome success they had at bringing others to the Lord, we hear this sentiment spoken like “I wish I could do what they did but I don’t think I could ever speak like that!”

But the truth is, we absolutely can do it, we just desire ‘not’ to do it.

The same speech we use every day to voice our interests, our fears, our hopes, and our joys, is the very same speech that we require to proclaim the testimony of the risen Christ.

So why don’t we do it then?

I guess it might be for the same reasons why Moses undermined his own abilities to God: He simply didn’t want to do it.

Now you might be thinking “wait, how do you know that Moses was doing that?”

Well in addition to the numerous excuses that he tried to use to get out of going, it’s actually the testimony of Steven the first martyr that told me for certain:

Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action.Acts 7:22

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You see, God, already foreseeing that He would use Moses to deliver His people before the foundations of the earth, was careful to ensure that Moses was brought up in Pharaoh’s courts with the best education available at the time – the Egyptians – so that he would be eloquent and powerful in speech which is important if you’re going to be communicating with two and half million people later on in life.

God also made provision to direct Moses to Midian where he would then enter into the school of brokenness for the next 40 years of his life.

In all this, Moses was now prepared for the job!… Umm… Except…

He didn’t care to go.

It was not that he wasn’t trained, nor that he wasn’t qualified, nor that he wasn’t chosen. Alas, freewill does play a part in God’s divine choosing in that we still have the ability to choose whether or not we will go.

Now, we know that he eventually ‘does’ go, and also that despite God knowing that all of Moses’ apprehensions to go were merely based in his lack of desire ‘to’ go, but have you ever considered how different history would be today if he never ‘did’ go?

It shows us how the decisions of one person’s life can make such a difference to the deliverance of many people if we are willing to be obedient, and also God’s great patience with us in view of the hope for the greater good of mankind.

But it also helps us to understand the depth of disobedience in the sin of complacency due to fear or any other reason that we will one day answer for, in never attending to the call of God in ‘going’ for the sake of others.

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Jesus has already instructed us:

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”Matthew 28:19-20

You and I have been chosen, called, washed, redeemed and entrusted with the only Gospel of reconciliation between a Holy Loving God and a fallen world.

The value of what that truly means to you and I will be demonstrated and seen by the value we now place in seeing others come to know the sweet salvation found in no other name, but Christ!